Daily Affective Events and Mood as Antecedents of Life Domain Conflict and Enrichment: A Weekly Diary Study

Abstract

Based on affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), this study analyzes the effects of mood and daily affective events on life domain conflict, which represents role conflicts between work and private life domains, and life domain enrichment, which represents a positive effect of one domain on another. Minor daily events, described as hassles or uplifts, can elicit negative or positive feelings, respectively. We hypothesize that mood and daily hassles/uplifts are connected to life domain conflict and life domain enrichment over time. A sample of 229 participants completed questionnaires measuring mood, daily affective events, and life domain conflict and enrichment once per week over the course of 4 weeks, yielding 677 data points. The results of hierarchical linear modeling analysis showed that positive mood predicted life domain enrichment, and negative mood predicted both life domain enrichment and life domain conflict. Moreover, positive affective events predicted life domain enrichment and work-private life conflict. However, negative affective events only predicted work-private life enrichment. This study contributes to the existing literature by adopting a diary study perspective on the interaction of life domains and by explicitly taking mood and affective events into account as potential antecedents. From an applied perspective, this study underscores the importance of creating conditions that promote positive daily experiences at work and at home for employees' work-private life balance.